The game of bingo has been having a mixed bag of success in more recent years particularly in the UK. Brick and mortar bingo halls have been in decline with less and less people opting to visit them on a regular basis. This is mostly due to financial issues and of course the increasing number of players turning instead to mobile apps and online bingo. They are however fighting back to ensure that UK bingo sites online don’t take all the business they’ve built up over the years. But even the UK hasn’t quite seen strict bingo laws such as what has been present over in Minnesota. It’s absolutely incredible to think that Minnesota law has meant that up until now both nursing homes and senior centers have only been allowed to participate in bingo days just twice a week. Locations and buildings with elderly residents who look forward to socializing with friends and even playing alongside visiting family members have been restricted from getting together and participating in a simple game of bingo. However as of the beginning of this month all that has now changed.
Minnesota’s Gambling Control Board has finally seen the light and lifted the restrictions so that now bingo can take place within these locations as much as they see fit — and visiting guests will now also be able to play along without these limitations. The law was originally passed back in the 1980’s when charitable gaming entered the state but as time has gone on it seems even the Control Board themselves are at a loss why it ever came to fruition. So, why the sudden change of heart? Well it appears it is all thanks to a simple complaint that a Texan woman named Kate Allen made last year directly to Minnesota’s Gambling Control Board. It was all due to a particular visit the lady had made to see her mother-in-law at her nursing home based in St. Paul. On her visit she discovered the restrictions on the bingo days within the home and she also realized that even just as a guest she herself would not have even been able to join in a game with her relative. And penalizing the elderly and infirm from being able to enjoy a little fun during their days playing the ever popular game of bingo does seem ludicrous. But here we are 30 years later celebrating the fact that this long overdue law has finally been receded.
